BBC chiefs are hoping their Christmas ratings will be Up on last year after capturing family viewers.

They have scheduled Pixar’s Oscar-winning movie animation about an old man floating off on a balloon adventure as the curtain-raiser on Christmas Day to try to topple Downton Abbey.

They’re hoping that after Up, a string of hits including Doctor Who and EastEnders will hold on to viewers until 9pm.

That’s when they plan to unleash Call the Midwife – the BBC’s biggest new drama for a decade – against Downton which topped 2011’s ratings.

A Royle Family special, postponed last year after Craig Cash and Caroline Aherne failed to deliver the script on time, is due to follow that at 10pm.

Call the Midwife’s festive special heralds the second hotly-anticipated series, due to start in January. Boss Pippa Harris said: “Christmas celebrates one particular birth, and so it’s fitting for BBC1 to pay a visit to these much-loved characters, whose lives revolve around the joys and tribulations of childbirth.”

The show faces stiff competition from Downton on ITV1, which last year proved more popular than EastEnders.

The BBC also plans to show Disney’s family film Tangled plus The Princess and the Frog.